My Japanese girlfriend and I have been together 3+ years. We met when she was an exchange student. It turned into a long distance relationship after her study abroad program ended yearly b/c of COVID.
She lived with her parents throughout school, so she was able to save up money and come to the US every 4 months and lived in my apartment for 3 months.
We both want to get married, but think it’s best for her to have 3 years of experience at a company before moving to the US. Those three years will end in Spring 2025.
I can do my job fully remotely, but I don’t have the option of living with my parents to save money. I cannot afford a lease plus 3 two month long trips to Japan in 2024 where I would have to pay for another lease while I’m there. My thinking was I could just move to Japan in 2024. I’ve done tons of VISA research and unfortunately the only 2 visas that are real options are the student visa and the TEFL route. Both of which would require I take significant pay cuts and me having to put my start up company on hold.
I don’t want to do long distance anymore, especially since it seems like I could only see her for a couple weeks total in 2024. I also don’t want to give up my business.
Any super secret visas that fit my situation exactly? Or new ideas that I haven’t thought of?
4 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**To move or not to move**
My Japanese girlfriend and I have been together 3+ years. We met when she was an exchange student. It turned into a long distance relationship after her study abroad program ended yearly b/c of COVID.
She lived with her parents throughout school, so she was able to save up money and come to the US every 4 months and lived in my apartment for 3 months.
We both want to get married, but think it’s best for her to have 3 years of experience at a company before moving to the US. Those three years will end in Spring 2025.
I can do my job fully remotely, but I don’t have the option of living with my parents to save money. I cannot afford a lease plus 3 two month long trips to Japan in 2024 where I would have to pay for another lease while I’m there. My thinking was I could just move to Japan in 2024. I’ve done tons of VISA research and unfortunately the only 2 visas that are real options are the student visa and the TEFL route. Both of which would require I take significant pay cuts and me having to put my start up company on hold.
I don’t want to do long distance anymore, especially since it seems like I could only see her for a couple weeks total in 2024. I also don’t want to give up my business.
Any super secret visas that fit my situation exactly? Or new ideas that I haven’t thought of?
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Super secret visa: Just get married like you’re planning on anyway and get a spouse of a Japanese national visa. No restrictions on the work you can do, either.
>I don’t want to do long distance anymore, especially since it seems like I could only see her for a couple weeks total in 2024. I also don’t want to give up my business.
So marry her and move on the Spouse visa. You can keep working remotely.
There’s no “super secret” visas. If you don’t want to take a pay cut put a ring on it.
I did this with my Thai husband. At first I was shit scared of getting married but turns out not so bad afterall!